Raymond James to focus on 'virtual' recruiting

Due to travel restrictions forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the broker-dealers under the umbrella of Raymond James Financial Inc. will make recruiting financial advisers more of a virtual experience.

In the past, the firm relied on visits by recruits to its home office in St. Petersburg, Fla., in making its pitch to advisers. That has changed.

“Most of the process is done through Zoom video conferencing and it’s pretty easy now because advisers are familiar with the technology and have used video conferencing with their clients,” Scott Curtis, president of Raymond James private client group, said in an interview. “It includes marketing, technology, and video conferencing with senior leadership. These technologies were out there but we weren’t utilizing them. Advisers have been receptive.”

Paul Reilly, the CEO of Raymond James Financial, in a conference call with analysts Thursday morning to discuss quarterly earnings, touched on the topic of "virtual recruiting" in his comments and said the firm was ramping up its efforts in this area.

Raymond James has been a powerhouse recently in recruiting financial advisers.

But traditional recruiting is feeling the impact of restricted travel and decreased comfort of face to face, in person meetings, Reilly said.

“The near-term impact on recruiting results is uncertain, but its seems likely, even with the strong pipeline, there will be delays and disruptions until restrictions are lifted and people feel comfortable traveling and meeting in person again,” he said.

At some point in time, the firm intends to slowly and deliberately move people back to the office, Reilly said.

"Our No. 1 priority is to ensure the health and safety of our advisers, associates and clients," he said. "Since working from home arrangements have worked so well, we continue to provide excellent service to our clients. We have 95% of our associates working from home, and we have had no technology disruptions."

Raymond James has 8,060 financial advisers working across various business models. That's an increase of 245 when compared to the end of March 2019.

The company also reported private client assets under administration of $855 billion at the end of March, an increase of 24% when compared to the same period last year.